well i had a nice day trading and one of my last trades went the wrong way and I covered they trade and got to break even totally and when i hit the sell button it said couldn’t do it because of fifo so i canceled and it got away from me. I really didnt like the idea of seeing a losing trade when i have been correct all day long even tho the second trade covered me to BE. Psychology of this sucks sometimes cause instead of BE I am down 70 pips between the trades. I was very mad when i didn’t let it close out and I will remember this lesson well. It is a demo account but I am taking this very seriously and I see how peoples account can get away from them on 1 or 2 bad trades
What broker/platform are you using?
alpari usa meta trader 4
Recently got to learn how FIFO works and it’s totally contrary to how I want to trade. The only option is to have multiple accounts. Trade your long-term trades on one and short-term on another.
Interesting.
Just read the Alpari rules, and they are taking it to heart.
There are other brokers available that comply with the FIFO rules, but still allow you to close trades in the order you wish.
Might check into those.
I did the online chat with my broker after I had a few trades that closed contrary to what I wanted and they said that FIFO is per US regulation. They made it a point to tell me that I live in the US and that’s what you get. LOL.
yes it is us regulation and I just needed to be focused on the total of the 2 trades and if i clicked the top trade to modify it would have closed that one out, the opportunity cmae to fast to have my exit sale in place which would have done the same thing
I perfectly well understand that.
But again, there are US brokers that comply with the FIFO rules, but still let you close trades in the order you wish.
Here’s the FAQ about FIFO with one of them (name blocked out to comply with site rules):
Q. Does FIFO apply to all of my trades?
A. Yes, the FIFO regulation applies to all trades. However, XXXXX FX customers will be able to manage their positions in any order within the MetaTrader platform. When the customer selects the position to be closed in MetaTrader, XXXXX FX will consider this a “customer instruction” and will offset that trade in a FIFO compliant manner on the XXXXX FX back-end. The First in / First out solution that XXXXX FX has implemented receives the trade management direction from the MetaTrader platform and executes transactions on the back-end. This activity will be reflected on your Official Daily Statement available on our website.
So, the upshot is, they comply to the rules, but have found a way to leave your strategy intact, regardless of trade order on your part.
So, if you are being penalized by the fact that your broker has adopted the hard fast FIFO rule in a “by the letter” way, look around a bit.
There are those out there with a bit more imagination;)
Wow! Ok, the chat operator hinted at this. I’m just unfamiliar with the MT4 platform. I’ve only traded their proprietary platform “FXCM Trading STation II”. Which I really like but it is the only one I’ve used. Being a micro account that is all they offer.
It seems that most traders use MT4 so I’ll have to become more acquainted. A couple of demos I’ve tried didn’t seem as user-friendly but I guess I can compare that to trading with training wheels LOL.
sorry I have not looked up what you are talking about and will in the morning I have had to much to drink with no open trade to care about fifo right now. With that said I am interested in what you are refering to. I live in the usa with a broker here and must say never had a problem with this. I open and close trades however I see fit with no problem. The only issue I had with with my broker was a missed stoploss but when I seen it and hit them up on live chat they fixed it so no harm no foul as long as it dont happen again. With that said I must look this up if it is a regulation here I do know the rules here suck but wow fifo I have herd before dont ring a bell but name seem familiar. Talk to me tomorrow I will school myself on this thanks for the heads up
This is news to me, but irrelevant at the moment since I’m in UK, but it vindicates why I keep going on about keeping it as simple as possible all the time.
Hi ddrankin,
Great info from Master Tang and to add more if I may, when trading with FXCM’s MT4, your MT4 platform and actual account statements may vary. You will still be trading with FIFO but will have to deal with the fact that your reports and platform may not display the same thing.
For example, let’s say you have 2 open trades - trade A that was opened first and trade B that was opened second (or last). If you select to close trade B (last trade opened) on the MT4 platform, then Trade A will still display on your MT4 platform but trade A will be closed on your account because it was the first trade opened. What you are left with is Trade A displaying on MT4 but Trade B is your actual open position. As you can see, it can be difficult to match trades on the MT4 interface and account, especially if you trade often.
The bottom line is that your actual account is the only thing that really matters and FIFO execution will work the same way.
Let me know if you have additional questions and I hope this helps.
- Jason